The Cranky Middle Manager Show #311 Serial Innovators Claudio Feser
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #221 Peter Drucker for Individual Managers Bruce Rosenstein
Posted on 27. Dec, 2009 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Today Wayne Turmel becomes less cranky talking about what managers can learn for their personal lives and careers from Peter Drucker’s body of work. We talk to Bruce Rosenstein, author of Living in More Than One World, How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life.
Bruce Rosenstein 
Peter Drucker
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show, our last of 2009. After lots of navel gazing and obsessing/thinking deep thoughts just want to leave you with the idea that no company, no HR department and no body else is going to help you with your own learning and development. That’s what we’re here for.
If you’d like to learn How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, please take advantage of our monthly webinar workshops. Learn more here
You can also learn how your sales people and Subject Matter Experts can learn to Do Great Web Demos and Sales Calls here. Drop me a line for an additional 10% off the registration fee!
5:25 Forget planning for tomorrow. What are you doing today to ensure there is one (for you and your company, but mostly for you?) Today’s quote of the week is from Drucker himself.
6:25 We continue to celebrate Peter Drucker’s 100th birthday with Bruce Rosenstein, who knew Drucker and writes a lot about him. (For more Drucker conversations check out Jeffrey Krames and Frances Hesselbein’s Cranky Interviews) Why does Drucker still matter after all this time and what’s the importance to individuals, not just their employers?
8:28 When most people think of Drucker’s work, they think of corporate-wide philosophy and thinking. Bruce believes that a lot of his stuff depends on individual thinking and accountability. Lots of it is about personal development, learning and growth.
12:41 Rosenstein’s book talks about core competencies for managers- much like our own disciplines. Workmanship, Diligence and Excellence. Recognizing achievement is critical- work towards being excellent at what you do, including your role as a manager.
16:01 Taking stock of where you are in your personal life is even more important than doing performance reviews, no matter what HR says. Part of that might be systematically abandoning the policies and procedures you and your company were built on. What legacy will you leave? Have you even thought about it?
22:45 Drucker invented the term “knowledge worker” but did he ever envision how that would become a different kind of drudgery? Why are people in the insurance business so miserable? I put in my 2 cents worth as well on this one but it boils down to mission and why are you doing what you do and what meaning does the work have?
27:43 What is the biggest lesson Bruce has taken away from his association with Drucker? Probably the idea of parallel careers. I did it, (which is how this show came to be), he did it and what are YOU doing to prepare for the future?
29:34 Resource and Stuff
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #220 Green Project Management Maltzman and Shirley
Posted on 20. Dec, 2009 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Today Wayne Turmel talks to Rich Maltzman and David Shirley of the EarthPM blog about green project management. What is it, why do we care and how do we do it? We also look at Noah’s project management prowess, a quote from an idealist and we shamelessly plug our “How to Create and Manage Remote Teams” workshops. Just another day in the salt mines for us Cranky Middle Managers.
Rich Maltman
Dave Shirley
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we celebrate Green Project Management- getting things done while doing good things for the planet and your Karma. It seems only right, somehow that we dedicate this show to Noah, project manager and defender of wildlife. Any project where you can stop the stakeholders from eating each other is a successful project in our book!
3:00 If you manage teams, have responsibility for managing teams or just want to help your company’s managers, check out January’s How to Create and Manage Remote Teams workshop. Drop me a line and save an additional 10% per attendee! If you can’t make it, look at February’s scheduled class.
4:08 The quote of the week is from Carl Schurz, who knew a thing or two about practical idealism.
5:00 Welcome Rich Maltzman back to the show (hear his first interview here) along with his partner Dave Shirley. Together they run the EarthPM blog. Do you need to be a tree hugger to want your projects to be greener? Projects will run better if you think big picture and long term even if that’s not your job description.
7:27 What kind of things fall under “green”? It’s more than just shutting off computers (although you should do that). Can effective communication be done without paper, for example? Collaborative tools saves travel, time, paper and waste in general. Identifying risk triggers like travel or energy costs is a great start.
11:25 When you look at your projects, do you look at the Beginning of the Beginning and the End of the Beginning as well as the Beginning of the End and the End of the End? When you do that you’re outside your normal scope but it’s good business.
16:23 Even if (like me) you’re a skeptic about Cap and Trade and Carbon swaps, there’s real money at stake- and how much of an idealogue do you need to be to ignore millions of dollars just to prove a point? New technology is all about new projects. Coming out of Copenhagen it will be all about projects and their management. And your projects don’t have to have anything to do with “green” technology to understand sustainability and waste reduction.
20:05 Is this whole topic easier to contemplate from a rich white person’s perspective or are people with REAL constraints adding to the body of knowledge? The leadership of Project Management Institute(PMI) are very aware of sustainability and globalization. Should green be a separate discipline or should it be just built into how projects are run to start with?
26:42 Communicating virtually is a great way to green your projects. So is life cycle, or “lean” thinking. Take the end of your product into account.
Books and Resources
Want to Take Part in John Blackwell’s Survey?
Posted on 15. Dec, 2009 by Wayne in General
If you enjoyed the last show (which supposes you heard the last show- go hear it and I’ll wait….. okay) you might be interested in some of John Blackwell’s work. Well, he’s doing a survey in conjunction with Durham University on the “Way We Work”. If you’d like to participate, here are the details:
“Towards a New Mindset” – researching the often-inexplicable resistance to new work practices
I’d like to invite you to participate in our SURVEY (https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3PTR6F8) into workplace opinions and beliefs.
It’s part of our collaboration with Durham University into attitudes to new work practices – the aim being to gain stronger insight into the often-inexplicable resistance from executive to new work practices.
Explaining this irrational opposition is often referred to as today’s $64 million question for corporate competitiveness, and is precisely what our “Towards a New Mindset” study aims to address. The report will consider the array of interventions available to change organisational and individual mindset.
Additionally, the University are developing a ‘toolkit’ of effective management practices that can be applied to achieve mindset change.
If you’d like a free copy of the report and toolkit, just complete our survey and let us know your contact details at the close. You can also remain totally anonymous – it’s entirely your choice. Either way, we’re delighted to have your contribution, and would welcome you circulating the survey amongst your colleagues – more contributors will strengthen the sample.
If you’d like more details on the study, its objectives, deliverables, and timescales, just drop Sam Thornton (samantha_thornton@jbassociates.uk.com) a note.
Best regards
John Blackwell
Chief Executive
Thanks, John. Please tell all your friends about the latest Cranky Middle Manager Show and post your opinions: do they get it? Is John huffing glue? Let’s hear from you folks.
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #219 Your Senior Mgmt Doesn’t Get Remote Working John Blackwell
Posted on 13. Dec, 2009 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Today Wayne Turmel has one of the most important interviews in the show’s history: Do Senior Leaders in companies really understand how much has changed for managers? Do they understand remote working and technology? Our guest and fellow Management Issues contributor John Blackwell talks heresy as well as some amazing new research to back it up. Also, french philosophy meets IT and training for your managers to cope with the changes. A lot going on for one little show…..
Today we have maybe the most important interview in our history. John Blackwell raises great questions and quotes terrific research on just how much the world of work has changed- and why senior managers just don’t get it. Tell your friends and colleagues about this one.
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show. You know the way we work has changed forever. I know the way we work has changed forever. Does your company get it? Remote working, telecommuting and global stakeholders have changed the game forever. Today we welcome John Blackwell back to the show for the 4th time (You can hear his other interviews here as well as here and here) We dedicate the show to Umayya Ibn Abd Shams, who created the 6th largest empire ever, without holding a webinar or live streamed town hall.
5:00 If this show moves you to get some training for yourself, your managers or your team on managing remotely, check out our first monthly “How to Create and Manage Remote Teams” webinar course. You can save 10% off early registration by dropping me an email and letting me know you listen to the show.
7:06 The quote of the week is from Simone Weil, who understood that distance is relative and good communication travels better over wires than over the cubicle wall.
8:00 Welcome John Blackwell back to the show. He has done some amazing research on remote working over the years but he’s getting more pointed and controversial over time. He tells us some of the surprising results, as well as some of the least surprising- that the biggest barriers to changing workplace are senior managers.
12:23 Why is IT so afraid of Skype and consumer platforms, and how does it relate to doing busines with BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries? Is security just an excuse? Is the fear irrational? Post to the blog and let us know what you think? Even I have to come to the defense of companies.. what’s the world coming to?
18:30 What is the “change gap” he’s finding?? It’s not just Old Triceratops in the corner office, but do companies offer any help to managers with the way they really manage? Do systems and performance reviews reflect reality?
25:00 What are some of the skills managers need to develop and some of the changes we should make immediately? Using “trust based” measures rather than imposed criteria. We also need to do something about the way we interview.
30:30 What does John see as the biggest changes in the next year? They’re not so much changes (since they’re already here) but there are three:
- the decline of the physical corporate hub
- the increase of independent consultants and workers
- social networking as the standard for how things get done
LINKS TO HIS RESEARCH
John Blackwell and Associates Library
Remote Management Articles I’ve Done for BNET